The pressure to convince the other of your correctness fosters defensiveness. Commitment to the long view of sustained in-person interaction between strongly opposed worldviews is never an easy process. Yet, sustainable connections almost always rearrange false assumptions. This does not mean all will agree. It does mean that a new awakening of deeper levels of [Read More...]

Too often in our conversations surrounding faith, gender and sexuality, we hear statements that project one’s own limited understanding and experiences onto the other. Unlike the insight of an intimately acquainted friend, these are unsolicited statements come from a place of one’s own beliefs about a given issue, not their knowledge of you as an individual.[Read more...]

Join us for tonight’s Living in the Tension gathering! Our friend and regular attender, Michael Albert, will be sharing his story and responding to our questions. Don’t miss hearing from this funny, insightful guy! As always, we will meet at 7 pm at 5255 N Ashland Ave in Room 124. Also, for anyone who’s interested, we meet for dinner [Read More...]

A few months ago I sat across the table from a guy whose eyes searched the room and voice broke when he asked me one of the most heartbreaking questions I’ve ever heard: “How do I become straight?” Two years into my work here at The Marin Foundation, this was the first time I had heard that question pointe blank. Though the pain in his eyes was all too familiar. [Read more...]

Practicing an ethic of inclusion does not mean that in order for opposing worldviews to come together there must be a lack of conviction on the part of any of the participants. Too often, partisan activists see an inclusion of the other as a fatal weakness in the bridge building process. I see no such thing. [Read More...]

This post is written by Michael Kimpan, the Executive Director at The Marin Foundation, and was initially posted here, at his personal blog. – Barronelle Stutzman is stirring up headlines. The 70-year-old grandmother is the owner of Arlene’s Flower Shop in Washington State, and identifies as a devout Christian. She’s also opposed to gay marriage – so much so [Read More...]

The Marin Foundation newsletter went out last week, and if you missed it, we can remedy that… Below is a snapshot of the items in the newsletter… click here to read it in its entirety— and be sure to make note of upcoming dates! Check it out here, and to make sure you don’t miss another one, sign [Read More...]

Join us on Monday, February 23th for our next Living in the Tension Gathering. We’ll be discussing the heteronormativity and cisnormativity, the assumption that individuals are straight and cisgender (those whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth). What are the real life, everyday consequences of heteronormativity and cisnormativity for members [Read More...]

– This post is written by Michael Kimpan, the Executive Director at The Marin Foundation. You can read more from Michael at his blog here. – We’ve written before on the importance of fidelity – a resolved commitment to a person, organization, mission or idea. Most often, we use this word in conjunction with ‘faithfulness’ in the context of [Read More...]

This post is by Laura Statesir, our Director of Family and Youth: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) For many years this verse was so important to me that I considered getting “faith”, “hope”, and “love” tattooed on my body. Over time the meaning of these promises has changed in my life. The innocent idealism of my youthful faith has given way to something deeper and yet less certain as I’ve struggled with reconciling my sexuality with my faith and with my interactions with my Christian communities. At the Gay Christian Network conference in Portland this past January I met many other Christians who are seeking a vision of how these words might be tattooed on their own hearts. [Read more...]

Inherent within bridge building is the necessity to intentionally partner and work with both worldviews. One cannot build a bridge without both worldviews present, and further: Both of the opposing worldviews must be actively engaged in the work. Both must put down the fear of going against the cultural grain of “acceptable” engagement and be [Read More...]

When the child of Christian parents comes out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer these parents often struggle to reconcile their faith with their child’s sexuality or gender identity. Parents typically feel alone. They have no one to turn to and believe that no one will understand their experiences. Many times, there is no [Read More...]

Join us on Monday, February 9th for our next Living in the Tension Gathering. We’ll be watching and discussing ethicist Dr. David Gushee’s recent keynote address at The Reformation Project Training Conference, “Ending the Teaching of Contempt against the Church’s Sexual Minorities.” As always, we will meet at 7 pm at 5255 N Ashland Ave in Room [Read More...]

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